Cutthroat Conviction
by Alondite
Summary: A story of Karla's daughter, Fir, as she challenges another swordsman into battle, Rutger. Will she change afterwards? Who will emerge the winner, if any? FE6 fic.


Fir… she was the daughter of Karla… the one known as the sword princess. Attempting to live up to that woman's prestigious title, Fir took up the blade, and sought out others to test her abilities. She had fought in the coliseum on several occasions, and had never lost. Her reputation was ascending further with each victory. When she had joined the Lycia Alliance, she met a man whom she felt had the same dedication of the blade as she did.

...Rutger. That was his name. Their sunset duel had not a spectator in sight. It left only two questions to be answered… Who would come out the victor? And who would change, if at all, from the short experience?

xxx

Cutthroat Conviction

Rutger & Fir one shot

Game: Fire Emblem 6

Genre: Action

xxx

They stood apart from each other, mere yards away from collision. Neither had moved, even after a full ten minutes of time had passed. The studying of each other's stances, the cold-hearted stare down of battle-torn warriors... they had chosen the path of the blade. Their contest was inevitable.

"Well..." Fir finally spoke, sweating from her temples down to her cheeks. It was a mental game first, then a physical match second. Fir was losing Round One. "...Aren't you going to fight me?" Fir provoked the auburn-haired warrior. The angry grin had not left her face. Her intensity was well toned, and it showed in her face. But inside, it was a different story. Rutger's aura, his killing intent… it could be felt by the pony-tailed girl, even at such a distance. This is a man with many enduring battle scars. And Fir wanted to conquer him in combat.

"Answer me! You haven't moved at all. Fight me already!" Fir stepped forward, in a small attempt at visual intimidation.

With that, the quiet man's lips had finally moved, but that was the only part of him that performed any action. The cold stare, and the killing stance remained. "I told you before, young one. You are not ready to face me."

"Don't say that!" She quickly retorted. She grasped her blade tighter. "You're just stalling this further!"

"I am not. The art of the sword is not for personal gain. I merely accepted your offer so that I could tell you this face to face."

"Tell me what? The same sad story that I'm a girl, and I shouldn't be on the battlefield?"

"No. That you are fighting for the wrong reason. A swordsman swings their sword only to kill, and to defend their lives, and beliefs. That is the only reason us swordsmen exist."

"Liar!!" Fir shouted. "Stop generalizing me! You have no idea about the kind of person that I am."

"That is where you are wrong, child. Your eyes tell me your story. You seek closure, redemption, and superiority, but it will soon lead you to madness."

"Enough talk!" Fir was growing ever impatient. She knew Rutger was just playing mind games with her, but she was in such an intense state, she could not restrain her anger, nor her hunger for the thrill of battle. "I'm tired of people like you lecturing me!"

"Then tell me once more, child. Why is it that you fight?"

"To better myself." Fir bluntly stated herself without hesitation.

"Then you should lay down your blade, and forget your goals." Rutger vocally countered just as fast.

"Shut up!"

"No. What I state is truth. My blade is to kill. That is all. Soon, your hunger for mere competition and playing with your opponents will change… and you will become a cold monster who believes there's nothing to a sword but to be the one and only." Fir's body was starting to shake at Rutger's cold dictation. She would never become such a thing. "That drive will control you into killing without relent… just like Karel."

The mention of that person's name activated a switch in Fir's mind that she could not turn off. It increased her intensity to the point of no return. "Stop right there!!" With her cry of anger, she charged at Rutger with her sword, the Wo Dao, in hand. Her vertical slash intent on shutting the cold person in front of her up for good was blocked by Rutger's own red blood-soaked sword. He simply called it the Killing Edge. Judging by its unorthodox curve, and lightweight form, it seemed a blade like that would live up to its name. And it was in the hands of the one whom swings his sword to kill.

"Don't you ever speak ill of that man's name!" Fir emphasized 'that' in her words. "He is a kind person who taught me that all paths of the sword lead to one place. What could you know about the great Sword Saint of our generation?"

"So you really don't know then?" Rutger managed to break the short stalemate. He distanced himself slightly from Fir. Not by much, but only enough so that he could get a good swing with his Killing Edge. It was a fast, nearly invisible stroke. Luckily, Fir had not completely lost her sense of hearing. Being aware of the sound of that blade cutting away at the air caused her to instinctively step back, and avoid the fatal strike.

"Know what?" Fir returned to her previous stance. The exact glance, and tight grasp on her Wo Dao…it's as if she had never attacked.

"Did you know that that man was once known as the Sword Demon?"

"What did you say?"

"Karel the Sword Demon. His blade was as soaked with blood as mine. That man sought only to kill others. No other reason then such. There's not a person alive dedicated to the sword arts that does not know, and fear his name.

"I don't believe you! My uncle would never-"

"I should not be surprised, you being related to him. But he has not been caught by the public's eye in several years. No one knows what became of the Sword Demon inside of him. Perhaps a state of seclusion… or maybe he is in such regret. He might as well have ended his life." Rutger finished his unsettling conclusion, and that caused Fir to guide herself to the air with a mighty jump.

"How dare you!" Fir shouted. "I'll finish you so that you will never disrespect Uncle Karel's name again!" The desire to compete had left Fir. Now standing before Rutger was a person hell bent on ending another's life.

"So now you see it!!" Rutger prepared his blade, and held it upward for the eventual block. But Fir's downward swing was much stronger then he anticipated, and it broke Rutger's guard, and landed a small cut on his right cheek. Fir had made her mark.

"Now then…" Fir had fought through the mental stress of this ordeal. But it was now biting into her physical state. She was huffing furiously, as if deep inside her, she was trying as hard as ever to keep her anger in check, but to no avail. She was still able to speak clearly, however. "…Will you fight me seriously?"

"Do you even know what's happening to you? Your desire to make me regret my words is controlling your emotions. This is no longer simply a contest to you. You don't need to say anything. Your last attack tells me what I need to know. That means that I must now defeat you before you fall into despair. Forgive me."

And then all of a sudden, Fir saw in front of her not one swordsmen, but her eyes made her see five Rutgers. Mere shadows and images of one another, yet their movement made Fir believe they were all real, and they were all headed towards her.

"What is this?" Fir was overwhelmed by such a display. It was the speed itself of this man that caught her completely off guard. She held her sword diagonally across her face.

The first two went for her head. She managed to block both strikes, but the third struck her right leg, causing her to drop her sword due to the extreme pain of the blow. Before she knew it, the fourth blow was towards her stomach. It connected, and then the final Rutger didn't even attempt to attack her, for it was the real Rutger himself. He managed to get behind her, and guide his Killing Edge across her neck. Not slitting it, but trapping her movement entirely. He grabbed her right arm, which once held the deadly Wo Dao blade, and placed it behind her back, holding her in place as a precautionary measure.

"Give up." That was Rutger's proclamation. "Or you will only hurt yourself. Normally, I would have killed you right now, but I missed your vital spots in my attack. So consider that a lesson."

"Killed me?" For Fir's leg having such a sharp pain, just standing was hard to endure. "You're bluffing. You'd have done it rather then said it."

"Believe what you will, but you are a few seconds from passing out due to the painful strikes of my Killing Edge, so it does not matter."

With that, Rutger withdrew his sword, and released his grip on Fir. Fir collapsed onto herself, falling to her knees. She clutched the red mark on her leg that Rutger made with his blade.

"Then why don't you kill me?"

Rutger didn't respond to her suggestion. He just continued walking away from the defeated girl.

"You said you only swing your sword to kill, so get it over with! Kill me already! I lost! I deserve death!" She cried out in pain. "I won't accept this, damn it!!" And then, she had succumbed to it all… the scars of Rutger's sword, the yelling, the humiliation, and the mental exhaustion.

Fir passed out, letting out a small 'Curse you...' from her voice before her face hit the ground.

xxx

She awoke not at the time of the setting sun of her battle, but rather, the rising sun. It was morning. She had been out for the rest of that night. She looked around, and saw she was in a small recovery tent lying on a soft bed. She saw a man wearing the blue armor of an Ilian knight, and a young blonde girl holding a staff with a purple bulb on top. She tried to stand up, but she was being pushed down by the knight's hand as the bulb in the girl's staff was glowing. Fir looked down at her right leg, and saw that where the wound used to be had medical bandages wrapped around it in its place.

"There." It was Princess Clarine, the troubadour whom spoke first. She sat down on a nearby chair, took the staff in her hand, and lightly bonked Fir on the head with it. Fir rubbed her head a few seconds where the staff hit. "Now don't do stupid things like that again. Master Roy's confined you here for a week due to your little scuffle, so even if you're one hundred percent ready, you won't be fighting anyone anytime soon."

"She's right, Fir." said the blue knight, Noah, whom followed up after Clarine. "You should know better then to challenge individual soldiers to battle."

Fir looked up at him, curious. "Sir Noah… did you bring me here?"

"Why no, I didn't." Noah replied. "In fact, you were here sleeping when we arrived. It was Miss Clarine who walked in, and found you like this."

"Then… how did you know that I was fighting someone?"

"It's because of Rutger." Clarine responded. "Rutger's the one who brought you here. Then he went straight to Master Roy, and told him about his confrontation with you. To top it off, Rutger sent me to mend your little bumps and bruises. How rude! A girl like me should not be confined to healing duties this early in the day."

"Now Clarine…" Noah intervened.

"Oh, forget it. I'm leaving." Clarine got up, and left the tent in an attempt to get back the little bit of sleep she had lost.

Noah then looked over at Fir. Her ribbons were gone, so her neck-length hair was hanging down, albeit a little ruffled from lying on the white pillows for as long as she was. "Although I hope you learned something from this-"

"It can't be!" Fir yelled out. She was sitting upright in shock. Rutger? The person, who humiliated her, came back and brought her with him to the base? "It just can't be!"

"Fir, take it easy." Noah tried to ease her out of the shock. "Rutger did leave you a small message before he retired to his sleeping quarters." Noah pulled out a brown scroll, wrapped up neatly, and handed it to Fir. Fir unfurled the message, and read it.

"You are indeed strong, swordsman. But I must insist that you not seek me anymore. My history is stained with revenge against the country of Bern. I took up my own blade to act this revenge in the only method I know how. Revenge is all I know. I'm a cold person because of it. It would be good if you were to not fall prey to my shortcomings. You are still young, and have plenty of room to hone your skills as a swordsman. Continue to better yourself individually, and do not follow the path that I walk. Train yourself, and get stronger. As strong as the Sword Demon, Karel, but do not let your own strength consume you in the end. If that were ever to happen, your life would be over. Do not allow your defeat at my hands to consume you either. Learn from it, and prevent yourself from losing your future battles ahead.

Live on, successor of the Sword Demon."

As she read the note, it only infuriated her after each sentence. When she was finished reading, Fir crumbled up the paper, and threw it against the tent walls. "Who does he think he is?"

"Fir…" Noah could only look on as Fir's emotions exploded all at once.

"Damn it!! He's just adding insult to injury now. Well don't you worry, Rutger. I promise you… I will not lose a single match. I'll get strong, all right. Strong enough to defeat you, and redeem myself!"

She shouted out at the sky. "Do you hear me, Rutger? You're nothing to me but an obstacle! I'll get real strong, and I'll defeat you! You don't scare me, you… jerk…" Unfortunately, Fir had let out all her energy with just yelling, and that was all she could say before she passed out again.

Noah let out a deep sigh. "You may say that you got the message, but your words indicate otherwise. Same old Fir…your father… I can't tell whether or not he'd be happy his daughter is acting like this."

With that, Noah pulled up the bed sheets, and covered Fir with them. "Rest easy, Fir." He walked out, and left the headstrong little myrmidon to her dreams of becoming the next Sword Princess.

The End

Author's Comments:

Well, that's my little story on Fir. She's one of my favorite Fuuin characters. I loved her drive to better herself throughout the game, and that's where this story came from. This is based off of Fir's C support with Rutger, where Rutger scolds Fir by saying that he won't fight her because "I have no interest in using my sword for play." Granted, she wises up and comes to realize that her path of the sword and Rutger's path are different, but I wanted to act on Fir's unbending desire to showcase her skills as Karla's daughter. It is a little OOC for her to feel so humiliated over one loss, but it was the fact that it was one of the Lycia Alliance's members that defeated her. I felt something like that would have hurt Fir's pride worse then any factor in that showdown with her and Rutger.

I should state for the record that I suck at describing battles. Not to be hard on myself, but it really shows in this particular work.

Well, feel free to review. Your comments keep me going.


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